Tech

Steve Jobs Discusses His Legacy in Rare 1994 Footage

A touching, never-before-seen video of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has revealed his inner thoughts about what his legacy might be one day.

The video is a part of a 60-minute documentary called Steve Jobs: Visionary Entrepreneur, which is based around a 20-minute interview he conducted with the Silicon Valley Historical Association in 1994. In the clip posted to YouTube and first spotted by The Loop, Jobs seems to be answering a question based on whether he believes the tech industry is similar to the Renaissance period and if it will be admired for years to come.

"This is a field where one does not write a principia that holds up for 200 years," he said. "This is not a field where one paints a painting that will be looked at for centuries or builds a church that will be admired and looked at in astonishment for centuries. No, this is a field where one does one's work and in 10 years, it's obsolete and really will not be usable within 10 or 20 years."

Similar to how you can't go back and use older computer systems such as the Apple I and Apple II — because there no longer is any software to support it — technology that was once innovative will only be a part of the larger legacy of the industry.

"It's sort of like sediments of rocks," he said. "You are building up a mountain and you get to contribute your little layer of sedimentary rock to make the mountain that much higher. No one on the surface will have x-ray vision to see your sediment. They will stand on it, and it will be appreciated by that rare geologist, but no, it's not like the Renaissance at all."

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